Single payer health care monopoly sanctity is just one of hundreds of elements of Canada's sociologically toxic politics that make western separation so appealing as nothing can seemingly change for the better within confederation. It is a disgrace that people who want to spend their own money on their own health care are not allowed to do so within their own country. Having had to flee the deranged dominion for surgery that would have required waiting times that would have left me broke, crippled and likely incontinent, I told the president of the BCMA that the most significant component of our health care safety net was the Nexus lane at the border.
I don't know whether it's because there are so many stakeholders wedded to the status quo, or if it's 50+ years of the media highlighting (semi-truthful) stories about Americans who went to the doctor for a hangnail and ended up bankrupt, but one of life's greatest frustrations is that almost any attempt to have a rational, adult conversation about healthcare reform invariably gets met with "oh you'd prefer we have the American system?". When you point out that many other nations use some kind of hybrid approach and have better outcomes with lower per capita costs, they look at you like you're you're from Mars.
Hi David - this is an interesting article. It sounds like we should be able to compare Quebec's system with its private innovations to the rest of Canada. How is Quebec doing when it comes to overall costs and wait times compared to the ROC?
Well as I've written (https://www.theaudit.ca/p/ranking-are-we-winning-the-patient), Quebec seems to have significantly reduced their wait times since the change - and they also improved their patient:healthcare worker ratio - although those are, predictably, complex. I haven't looked at cost comparisons.
I enjoyed this article. Good topic worthy of much discussion. One minor quibble: we already do have private health care. Ever go to a dentist or an optometrist?
So, we do have a hybrid model in Canada. There are also numerous private clinics offering various services here in BC. Everything from Physiotherapy to getting a vasectomy. Isn’t that healthcare?
Should there be more private clinics? Fair question.
I don’t know.
Many worry that increasing privatization will:
1. lead to increased costs overall for healthcare,
2. Siphon the best doctors and nurses away from public system while also leaving the most difficult (ie costly to treat) cases in the public hospitals, and
3. result in wealthy folks getting prioritized and to the front of lines (ethically a repulsive outcome for many Canadians, rightly so.)
address those concerns without hand waving them away, and you’ve probably got something.
Those are all perfectly valid questions. But they're probably less convincing to someone who's suffering right now within a system that just can't deliver.
There's no question that these are complex issues and that no single idea will solve everything. But it's probably worth diving deeper into the Quebec experiences to see whether at least some parts of the system have improved.
Single payer health care monopoly sanctity is just one of hundreds of elements of Canada's sociologically toxic politics that make western separation so appealing as nothing can seemingly change for the better within confederation. It is a disgrace that people who want to spend their own money on their own health care are not allowed to do so within their own country. Having had to flee the deranged dominion for surgery that would have required waiting times that would have left me broke, crippled and likely incontinent, I told the president of the BCMA that the most significant component of our health care safety net was the Nexus lane at the border.
I don't know whether it's because there are so many stakeholders wedded to the status quo, or if it's 50+ years of the media highlighting (semi-truthful) stories about Americans who went to the doctor for a hangnail and ended up bankrupt, but one of life's greatest frustrations is that almost any attempt to have a rational, adult conversation about healthcare reform invariably gets met with "oh you'd prefer we have the American system?". When you point out that many other nations use some kind of hybrid approach and have better outcomes with lower per capita costs, they look at you like you're you're from Mars.
Unless I'm mistaken, only Canada, Cuba, and North Korea prohibit private delivery of healthcare. :)
What is the old saying about the company you keep?
Hi David - this is an interesting article. It sounds like we should be able to compare Quebec's system with its private innovations to the rest of Canada. How is Quebec doing when it comes to overall costs and wait times compared to the ROC?
Well as I've written (https://www.theaudit.ca/p/ranking-are-we-winning-the-patient), Quebec seems to have significantly reduced their wait times since the change - and they also improved their patient:healthcare worker ratio - although those are, predictably, complex. I haven't looked at cost comparisons.
I enjoyed this article. Good topic worthy of much discussion. One minor quibble: we already do have private health care. Ever go to a dentist or an optometrist?
So, we do have a hybrid model in Canada. There are also numerous private clinics offering various services here in BC. Everything from Physiotherapy to getting a vasectomy. Isn’t that healthcare?
Should there be more private clinics? Fair question.
I don’t know.
Many worry that increasing privatization will:
1. lead to increased costs overall for healthcare,
2. Siphon the best doctors and nurses away from public system while also leaving the most difficult (ie costly to treat) cases in the public hospitals, and
3. result in wealthy folks getting prioritized and to the front of lines (ethically a repulsive outcome for many Canadians, rightly so.)
address those concerns without hand waving them away, and you’ve probably got something.
Those are all perfectly valid questions. But they're probably less convincing to someone who's suffering right now within a system that just can't deliver.
It doesn't seem to have helped the Québec health care system. It's a disaster.
There's no question that these are complex issues and that no single idea will solve everything. But it's probably worth diving deeper into the Quebec experiences to see whether at least some parts of the system have improved.